11 FWO, NHA workers killed in Gwadar shooting

QUETTA: At least 11 people, including seven Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) workers and three National Highway Authority (NHA) engineers, were shot dead and two others injured when a group of armed men opened fire on them at their camp near the Phelleri area of Gwadar district on Monday night.

The banned outfit Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) has claimed responsibility for the shooting.

Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani said that the attack was carried out in the Phelleri area of Gwadar, the site of an FWO camp, by eight attackers who were armed with sophisticated weapons, adding that they had come on motorbikes.

The assailants, he said, had also torched two vehicles.

“The assailants took away the vehicles and set them on fire about five kilometres away from the crime scene,“ an eyewitness said.

The attackers managed to escape.

Heavy contingents of Balochistan Levies, Frontier Corps and other law-enforcement agencies rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area.

The camp had been set up by the FWO for its employees who were engaged in road construction. Most of the victims belonged to Punjab.

The provincial home secretary said that it was impossible to carry out such a deadly attack without local support. “A manhunt has been mounted for apprehending the culprits. The criminals will soon be brought to justice,“ he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2011.